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Back in September 2014 we had the privilege of demoing our upcoming game FallMan at the EGX London (former Eurogamer Expo) indie showcase Leftfield Collection. EGX is the biggest games show in the UK and one of the biggest ones in Europe. In 2014 a whopping 75,000 attended the massive 4-day event. EGX describes the Leftfield Collection as "a place to sample artistic curios, quirky releases and indie games on the cusp of greatness". When we heard that FallMan got picked for the show we didn't think twice about going!

It was such a surreal experience for us being there at EGX with our Exhibitor wristbands in our hands. I mean we were there demoing the game that Juho has been working on all on his own in his tiny basement "office". Juho was setting up our stand the night before the opening and saw the monstrous booths for the million dollar budget AAA games being built at the main floor of the show. Talk about contrast. It's so awesome that EGX offers this opportunity for unknown indies like us to be a part of the same show with the biggest games out there. The Leftfield Collection was located in the second floor of the show and we had a nice and steady flow of players at our stand during the four days.

For us the most valuable thing in participating in EGX was seeing how people play the game. We got a lot of great feedback as well as improvement ideas for the game. Utmost greatest was that so many people found the game fun. It was thrilling to see people smiling and laughing. This year Leftfield Collection featured many insanely interesting games such as Virginia by Variable State and Mushroom11 by Untame and it was an honor to be part of this group and meet all the developers.

Here to finish off a simple pros & cons list:

Pros:

EGX doesn't charge anything for the Leftfield demo stand (at least this was the case in 2014)

Great opportunity to get your indie game out there for the public

Seeing how people play your game. Extensive playtest session with priceless insight on how to make your game better. You just learn so so much.

The people you meet! Gamers are cool folk. Not to mention getting to brush shoulders with other developers. Plus you never know who'll pop up at your stand at events like these.

Cons:

Costs for flights & accommodation take a chunk of the game budget, especially when you are paying from your own pocket. But this was worth it!

We didn't get much media/press contacts or exposure. Understandably, as EGX is console/PC and triple-A focused, we were there as a new unknown studio with a mobile game.

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic four days. Our thanks to the EGX Leftfield crew for taking such good care of us! Hope to be there again some year.